SAO PAULO — Sebastian Vettel scored the 30th pole position of his career in qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix, but more importantly, it was his 15th pole spot of the season, which tops the record set in 1992 by Nigel Mansell.
Victor R. Caivano/Associated PressSebastian Vettel celebrates his record 15th pole position of the season in Sao Paulo.
“There had been some talk before the weekend about this particular record and the best thing was to not think about it at all,” Vettel said. “I am enjoying the moment and enjoying the laps I had, and I put everything into the last lap and I was very emotional as I crossed the line because I knew I had given all I had. Then my engineer told me that I had the pole position. It is really special.”
Vettel’s teammate at Red Bull, Mark Webber, had the second-fastest qualifying time, just a tenth of a second behind. Jenson Button was third fastest in his McLaren Mercedes.
Vettel, who already won the driving championship at the Japanese Grand Prix three races ago, has been chasing after records ever since, equaling Mansell’s record for pole positions in a single season at the previous race, in Abu Dhabi two weeks ago.
“There is no secret,” Vettel said. “It’s not that easy to put everything into one lap, all the circuits are different. Sometimes you are not so happy with what you do, but most of the time I was happy with being able to put everything into my final lap.”
Sunday’s race could be much less easy for the German, however, as rain is predicted, and it could turn into a lottery on this tricky racetrack in Sao Paulo.